First time we have seen ‘English/Canadian’ bacon at breakfast on this cruise, though the cut was not as lean or as thick as in the past. (More cost cutting maybe? Short back bacon is more expensive than whatever we are getting!) At 9:30, we had our inaugural ‘Mens’ Shed’ meeting up in the Horizon Court. A good turnout (see pic) from what we’d loosely put as our adjacent dinner tables. The location we ended up with was right up by the window at the front of the ship and as it was getting warm, maybe we should have renamed it the’ Mens’ Hothouse’ or ’Mens’ Greenhouse’ meet. Anyway, a pleasant way to spend almost an hour or so before another losing trivia. Yup, usual winning teams.
At 11:45am, we had the first ‘Pacific Circler’s’ lunch and a turnout of 159! Too large a group to have any meaningful communications but we sat with Hans & Ineke, from Napier, who we’d seen before on the 2011 cruise. Hans was one of the regulars at the bowling.
We had an excellent Indian chicken curry, but had to shoot off to the ukulele class at 1:15. Once again, this was the advanced group, there were instruments spare, so our repertoire was expanded to “You are My Sunshine” and “Waltzing Matilda”. The class moves fairly quickly and there are about 7 or 8 passengers who have brought along their own instruments, but they seem quite content to be part of what is a fairly basic class. Several also come along to the beginner’s class, which is nice of them. Salomon is a very popular teacher (and a very good pianist I might add).
Back to the cabin and whilst Paula watched the “Kingsmen” movie on TV, I tried to make some progress with the blog. As you may have gathered by now, trying to keep up on sea days is tougher than you’d think as we don’t seem to have much time doing nothing.
Afternoon trivia was an ‘only just pass’ 10/20, but we have found the quizzes so far, pretty good, regardless of who takes them. A good entertainment crew this time, in sharp contrast to last year, where neither the entertainment staff nor our dining companions were as good as previously, so this year, it is so good having so many good people around, passengers and crew.
The pre-dinner show was a second show by comedian Ivor Richards. Another good show, slightly better than the first. Dinner was very tender sirloin beef. So far, the Curtis Stone dining room speciality seems to be limited to a chicken and leek pie and the creamy seafood broth, neither of which have had rave reviews. This is not to be confused with the Curtis Stone ‘Share’ restaurant menu. The Kai Seafood/sushi restaurant (extra charge) doesn’t seem to be very popular (see pics), with the staff always outnumbering the customers. The most we have ever seen in there is 4 and more often than not, it is empty. Quite why Princess thought another paid eatery was going to be a success is anyone’s guess. We now have the ‘Sterling Steakhouse’ at $29, the full Curtis Stone ‘Share’ at $39 (or you pay by dish) and the Kai Seafood where you also pay by dish, none of which seem to be very busy, certainly on a long cruise. It may work on a 7 day cruise, but it isn’t working on this one.
The late show was the second by violinist Patrick Roberts, billed as having an Andre Rieu slant. Had that been the case, then either Andre wouldn’t have the world popularity that has, or Patrick wasn’t watching too carefully. Not only was the show very lack lustre, but the drummer, sitting centre stage was not only drowning out the violinist, but we could hardy hear the piano/keyboard or the bass and lead guitar either. It probably didn’t help that we were over to one side, but we know others were less than impressed and the sound of gentle snoring was almost as loud as the applause. Without a doubt, the worst show we have seen so far on this cruise. Sorry Patrick, but we have to be honest.
A bit of dancing in the Wheelhouse bar before bed lightened the mood a wee bit and now we start with the putting the clocks back – in this instance, 30 minutes, so bed about midnight in real time. Another day at sea ahead, then land – Darwin.
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